Kinect Scanner

By Pierro Pozella

We as humans are limited on how we perceive the world not only due to our eye sight but also the limitations of our nervous system. With many of us growing up in a world where we are told how to perceive colour, time and space we become bound to this information struggling to see beyond what has been embedded into our minds throughout our lives. I have developed a camera which is able to see past these abstractions and beyond our limitations allowing us to see the world for what it truly is.

The camera has been inspired by animals vision as there eyesight has evolved beyond humans. I have taken inspiration from several animals combining there techniques from their more complex nervous systems. Using a similar technique to that of bats and their sonar detection, using an infra red beam instead of sound that works in the same way to map the environment in front of the camera. Along Side a dedicated Infra red sensor which is able to register the infra red beams that are imitated and interrupted as they interacte with the environment around them .

This camera allows me to capture and render in three dimensions exceeding human capabilities as the camera is not deceived or blinded by abstraction of which the human mind creates blocking us as humans from seeing the world for what it is.

The camera is also not limited by colour or time as no one person can see the same blue, green or red, this is the idea of non-allness and that colour is continuously changing. The camera is not limited by time as unlike normal cameras it does not capture any shadows or any other detail that suggest a time. The camera is also unusual and fully expresses its lack of limitations in that it is not dependent on light and is capable of rendering objects in pitch black, breaking the traditional boundaries of photography.

Multiple Choice

By Lucy Iredale

The project uses a series of switches that send signals to an Arduino board. These are then interpreted by the board. An LED is also connected to the board via an output pin on the Arduino board. When a particular combination of buttons are pressed, the LED light is turned on. The lights correspond to particular messages that are printed on the surface of the device.

Touch Poster

By Luo Liangliang

As the starting point, I combined the research about braille and nature, also the knowledge I gained from hackSpace to create works that can interact with and bring out multi sensory aspects of viewers. The keywords of my work will be readable, touchable, with sounds and for blind people.

The project uses areas of conductive ink that are attached to a touch board. The touch board is loaded with sound files that are played when certain areas of conductive ink are touched. This principle that activates the board when the ink patch is pressed is called capacitive sensing. The ink conductive ink has been printed seamlessly onto the surface of the poster.

Door that feels like Home

By Ian Nabong

A student accommodation door for International Students that plays message from home when used

The project makes use of a touch board connected to a handle painted in conductive ink. When the handle is touched a connection is created with the area of conductive ink and the ground. The sensing triggers the touch board to play a specific sound. The sounds need to be formatted to using a strict naming convention otherwise the board cannot read them.

Cardboard Keyboard

By Alex Lloyd-Jones

I spent some time in the library looking for inspiration. While I was there I noticed a problem with the keyboards students were using. They were made with dozens and dozens of components, which seemed overly complex. Additionally, keyboards are very unhygienic because bacteria build up in the gaps between keys, which can be hard to clean.

So I got this idea: what if you could make a keyboard out of a single sheet of cardboard? Instead of having dozens and dozens of keys, you could deboss them all onto a sheet of cardboard. This would mean no gaps in-between keys, making it cleaner to clean.

Although this product did not properly work by the project deadline, I’ve been really intrigued by this idea and so I’m continuing to develop it in my spare time.

Also this solution is very suitable as the keyboard would be fully recyclable.

The project uses the electronic components of an existing keyboard including the chip that recognises when a key is pressed and the contacts and connections which were attached to the plastic sheets. These were held in place and still worked when removed from the regular casing. The keyboard worked like a regular keyboard when plugged into a USB port.

Educational Doll

By Georgia Dunmore

The doll has a number of push buttons that are linked to an Arduino board via a series of wires. A Bluetooth module connects the doll to a nearby computer. A series of Boolean values are sent using the Bluetooth module through a serial connection to a computer running processing. The processing sketch listens for the values and triggers the VLC player to play certain video tracks. VLC was used rather than the inbuilt processing movie player files because the frame rate and the resolution of files can be much higher with independent quick time files.

Caseboard

Digital communication has been a double-edged sword. We now have faster typing speeds, but “um”s and “ah”s are more prevalent in speech than ever before. Have we become too dependant on the extra time the “send” button provides us?

Using Caseboard, you can type messages, but there is no backspace. If you wait too long between words, stalling phrases are added. This interface asks users to reflect on their own speech patterns. Do your online and offline selves... uh... talk in different tones? Do you feel at ease when a keyboard... like... doesn’t wait for you?